#52FilmsByWomen: TALLULAH

29/52 TALLULAH

It’s such a treat to have a new film about women, by women and with a fantastic cast of women, premiering on Netflix as TALLULAH did this past Friday. Netflix offered to purchase this film before it had even played at Sundance and released it as a Netflix Original, which seems to be the wave of the future. Now we can have great movie premieres from the comfort of our homes and–after an exhausting week–it was something I was really looking forward to.

TALLULAH was written and directed by Sian Heder, best known for her work on ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. She first conceived this story as the short film, MOTHER, which premiered at Cannes and then spent several years trying to finance the feature. One consistent obstacle she encountered was the note to make one of her three female leads a man, instead, in order to make a sale. Thank goodness she didn’t.

The heart of this film lies with three wonderful actors–Ellen Page, Allison Janney and Tammy Blanchard. Page plays a homeless drifter who, making a split-second decision she thought was best at the time, winds up kidnapping a toddler and passing her off as the daughter of her missing boyfriend. Blanchard is the reluctant mother of the child and Janney is the reluctant grandmother. All three women have wonderful chemistry and scenes with each other. As an actor, it’s a film that I latched on to from the first moment and enjoyed from start to finish. And I can’t overstate how refreshing it is to watch a film that revolves around women. I loved seeing Page again in a character so suited to her talent. Janny is a Goddess in my world and someone I aspire to be like in my work. And Blanchard was unknown to me but this Tony and Emmy nominated actor steals about every scene she’s in; I want to dig up her other work because she’s amazing.

TALLULAH is streaming now on Netflix and is an excellent way to spend an evening at home.